The Maldives

It's pouring. We're sitting in our Maldive bungalow watching torrential rain.  This is the biggest November storm they've had in years. The monsoon ended in India a month ago, but it started raining in Kerala 7 days ago, and 500 miles north of here. This is the same storm, I never saw through the clouds from 35,000 feet all the way down here. It's supposed to die out Wednesday afternoon, so we'll finally see this place in the sunshine.

Rain or no rain, we couldn't be more thrilled to be here. We're in a big jacuzzi tub. With champagne. Actually, it's raining into the jacuzzi on us, because the winds are high and the bathroom doors are wide open.

A bottle of champagne was waiting for us when we checked in. 

We're staring into the distance across the Indian Ocean. Which is also behind us. And under us. We're at Coco Palm Bodu Hithi in the Maldives. In an Escape Water Villa. 

I've had some good hotel experiences. I've stayed in hotel rooms with grand pianos, rooms with 800 sq. ft. balconies, and rooms with 3 bathrooms and 5 TVs. But never anything like this.

 

Our villa has a huge deck with a small pool, a covered “bed,” lounge chairs, and an outdoor shower.



However, my favorite spot was sitting on the front "porch" looking out to the horizon.  I spent quite a few peaceful hours there.




We put on snorkel gear and fins and climbed down the stairs right down into the ocean, a balmy 80 degrees.

 

The water has everything from 3' Jack fish to small sharks, which don't bother humans.

 
Our villa is more than 400 yards from shore. The living room has a plasma TV and a sound system. I'll pass on a rum and coke from the mini-bar – there's a full litre of Bacardi rum, but it's $225. Without the coke (a bargain at $6 per can). 

We were greeted by the resort manager himself, a Brit. He was glad to see us, and said they only see North Americans once or twice a month. There are about 100 rooms here, and it's full this week. No economic slowdown problems here. Most of our neighbors are Japanese salarymen and their wives or girlfriends (the 20-somethings fighting their way up the corporate ladder working 90-100 hour weeks). If they only get one week's vacation, they're ready to spend big bucks for a fancy getaway. There are also Indians, Aussies, and we've heard lots of languages from both Eastern and Western Europe.

This place is fully self-contained, the nearest store of any type is 20 miles across the water. All the staff lives here full-time (from a host of nations). They process sea water into drinking water, some 400 tons per day, and generate their own electricity (1000 gallons of diesel fuel a day for the generators). The internet is slow and unreliable, but it works sometimes. It's strange to walk into Reception or a lounge for a drink, and find the floors are all sand!

Instead of cows, these are the type of creatures we encountered on the roads.

Life is good!